Chesterfield County has signed a $4.3 million deal with SportsQuest, securing the 20-year lease of eight synthetic turf playing fields and a practice area along with use of other facilities on the under-construction 250-acre campus near the Powhite Parkway Extension and state Route 288.
The deal — approved in late May by the county’s Board of Supervisors and signed today — allows the county the use of the fields Mondays through Thursdays. A new provision also grants the use of the entire 17-field tournament complex one weekend each year.
Under the terms of the agreement, the county pays $2.3 million up front for the fields and provides and additional $2 million grant to secure future use of a gymnasium and senior center.
County Administrator James J.L. Stegmaier defended the county’s expense as a shrewd — and safe — investment.
“We have a belt, suspenders, heavy-duty elastic and rope around this deal,” he said. “In the worst case scenario imaginable, we’re going to get maybe $8 million or $9 million worth of soccer fields for a small fraction of the cost.”
The county funding represents a reallocation of capital dollars previously reserved for improvements to existing parks and recreation facilities in the same part of the county as the SportsQuest campus. near state Route 288 and Powhite Parkway.
Under a separate agreement between the county and Shaw Industries Group Inc., a Berkshire Hathaway company, the eight fields and practice area are guaranteed to be built regardless of whether SportsQuest CEO Steve Burton succeeds in realizing his vision for the campus.
Chesterfield has also has been given a first deed of trust on the 116-acre east campus, meaning that if SportsQuest goes under, the county gets first rights to the property.
“These kinds of ventures are perfect platforms for private-public partnerships,” said Burton. “In our community, we’re only beginning to explore this type of partnership, which is why there has been so much controversy.”
Read more about the deal in tomorrow’s Richmond Times-Dispatch.
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